En Garde’s intense sword fights and infectious atmosphere make it a fun, if fleeting, indie action game.

30XX recalls classic robot-blasting action of the Mega Man X series, but adds its own fun-filled spin on the formula via multiple play modes, custom stage creation, and randomly generated weapon drops.

Oxenfree II: Lost Signals is a retro horror adventure game with strong narrative options, but it feels a bit too familiar.

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is a delightful skating and hip-hop mash-up that builds its foundation on Sega's classic Jet Set Radio series, but contains enough narrative and gameplay freshness to stand on its own as an arcade-style action game.

Starfield is a massive space-based RPG with a galaxy of content to explore, but it has a surprising lack of ambition.

Baldur's Gate 3 is an incredible RPG for PC and PS5 that's true to the Dungeons & Dragons experience as well as the sheer possibilities that tabletop games allow.

Immortals of Aveum is a magic-focused shooter with excellent graphics and gameplay, but its story and puzzles leave a lot to be desired.

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon delivers great mech action and superb customization options, albeit with some annoying difficulty spikes and relatively bland maps.

Blasphemous 2's grim world packed with brutal monstrosities, haunting religious symbolism, and gripping action make it a standout title in the oversaturated Metroidvania genre.

Honkai: Star Rail is a stylish and engaging turn-based RPG that marries a quirky sci-fi tale with anime-style graphics.

Disney Illusion Island’s dazzling presentation, tight platforming, and kid-friendly approach to nonlinear design will amaze young gamers, but its shallow mechanics may make less of an impression on Metroidvania veterans.

Nintendo's Pikmin 4 beautifully builds upon the franchise’s quirky strategy formula to deliver new mechanics and dense locales that make you feel even more like an interplanetary explorer.

Crime Boss: Rockay City is a heist-shooter that squanders nearly every fun opportunity with its glitches, bugs, and severely undercooked gameplay.

C-Smash VRS is a game about playing squash in space, but it's also a wonderful, senses-stimulating experience that can only be truly appreciated in virtual reality.

Final Fantasy XVI for the PlayStation 5 marries iconic series elements with brutal political intrigue and intense action to create a gripping entry unlike any other in the franchise.

An homage to fondly remembered wrestling titles of the past, AEW: Fight Forever features a large roster, simple controls, numerous game modes, and a wonderfully entertaining match flow, but some issues keep it from grabbing the gold.

Pikmin 1+2 are welcome ports of Nintendo GameCube classics to the Switch, but little was done to update them in their 20-year absence.

Cassette Beasts puts a cool spin on the proven Pokemon formula by adding strategic combat, lovely throwback visuals, and a genuine sense of adventure.

Atmospheric and lushly imagined, Firmament is a joy to explore. Its unique mechanics offer a dynamic puzzle-solving experience, but the game could use more lore.

Diablo IV is a beautiful, massive new chapter in the classic hack-and-slash series that features a wildly addicting hunt for fresh gear.

Street Fighter 6 represents the many lessons that Capcom learned from Street Fighter 5's rough launch. Its option-rich mechanics and community-centric features make it a fighting game that casual and hard-core players should look forward to.

Lego 2K Drive is a thrilling and creative open-world racing game for all ages that stops just short of reaching its full potential.

The fangless Redfall falls flat, mangled and maligned by poor performance, numerous bugs, weak gunplay, and shallow loot-and-shoot gameplay.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a masterpiece of a sequel that instantly joins the ranks of the best Zelda games of all time.

Despite its delicious Doom flavor and novel weapon upgrade system, Mighty Doom is a mediocre free-to-play top-down mobile shooter.

Like its predecessor, the action-packed Jedi: Survivor is as an excellent example of a modern single-player Star Wars game that adheres to the brand without feeling derivative.

Minecraft Legends veers the popular sandbox game into real-time strategy territory, but misses the mark with clumsy controls, dull gameplay, and an empty open world.

The Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection brings the Game Boy Advance RPGs to modern systems, and with it hours of chip-collecting fun.

Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp successfully resurrects Nintendo’s terrific, turn-based tactics series by offering a generous package that nearly makes up for the 15-year wait.

DIG: Deep in Galaxies is an engaging roguelike platformer that tasks you with digging and shooting through different planets with dozens of high-powered abilities and weapons.

The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR offers cheap chills and thrills along with eye-catching lighting effects, but not much else.

Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse is an impressive remaster of a flawed, but highly original, photo-based horror game.

Pentiment is a thrilling, Renaissance-style whodunit that forgoes conventional video game action by focusing on an engaging narrative, branching dialogue options, and character relationships.

Capcom faithfully recreates and reimagines the legendary Resident Evil 4 by improving the graphics, tightening the gameplay, and keeping the original game's core scares and charms intact.

Theatrythm Final Bar Line is a terrific musical celebration of the Final Fantasy series that features more than 300 tracks, unlockable characters, and light RPG elements.

Bayonetta Origins ditches ridiculous spectacle for a puzzle-filled, combat-packed storybook adventure starring the young witch.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty offers a cool morale system, leaping attacks, and fresh spins on magic and character customization, though stilted storytelling and underwhelming stage designs prevent it from reaching the heights of other Nioh games.

Blanc is a charming and extremely short adventure game that features challenging puzzles and a beautiful, minimalist art style that should occupy you and a friend for an hour or two.

nOS gives your Nintendo Switch a cute, but extremely limited, facsimile of a new operating system with basic productivity apps.

Returnal arrives on PC two years after making a splash on PS5, packing many exclusive features that make this version the one to beat—if you've got the rig to handle it.

Like a Dragon: Ishin! is a remastered blast from the past that will appeal to longtime Yakuza fans, but a dated design and some bugs make the game feel rough around the edges.

Wild Hearts is a refreshing take on monster hunting that features huge creatures, cool weapons, and highly useful support systems.

Kirby’s Return to Dreamland Deluxe is a classic Kirby game, with enough content to justify picking it up even if you already own Kirby Star Allies and Kirby and the Forgotten Land. It’s just an enjoyable, simple platformer with almost two dozen abilities, an extra campaign, and a bunch of minigames. As a remastered Wii title, it doesn’t do anything new, but it stands strong against Kirby’s more recent adventures and earns our Editors' Choice award in the process.

Featuring gorgeous graphics, revamped controls, and a budget price, Metroid Prime Remastered gives Nintendo’s glorious FPS classic the update and new audience it deserves.

Hogwarts Legacy delivers a detail-rich world steeped in Harry Potter lore with satisfying spells, exploration, and combat, though it plays better on consoles than on PC.

Forspoken would be a passable PlayStation title if it were released a decade ago, but it drops the ball as a contemporary AAA game due to its awkward voice performances, muddy visuals, and many bizarre design choices.

Hi–Fi Rush drums new life into the action genre with fun cartoon-like visuals, excellent music, rhythm-focused gameplay twists, and addictive melee combat.

The Dead Space remake is a brilliant shooter that delivers horrific body horror and satisfying gunplay, but spices up the familiar elements with new weapons and frights.

Fire Emblem Engage recalls earlier series entries by hitting familiar tactical notes, but it augments them with a cool, new team-up system. Its multiplayer modes need work, though.

Need for Speed Unbound is a beautiful street racing game that features a cool soundtrack and welcome cross-platform play, but frustrating car physics and CPU drivers sully the experience.

River City Girls 2 tops its predecessor in nearly every way with more characters, enhanced combat, cross-platform play, and some of the best music you'll hear in a video game.

Tactics Ogre: Reborn is a thoughtfully updated port of a 2010 remake of a 1995 game. Contemporary tweaks let the strategy-RPG's story and gameplay shine.

More than Marvel meets XCOM, Midnight Suns is an epic comic book adventure with dynamic and inventive strategy mechanics paired with engrossing superhero socializing.

Crisis Core Reunion is a thoughtful, high-quality remaster of the PSP classic. The main story remains melodramatic, but the revamped battle mechanics deliver lots of baddie-bashing fun.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet take the beloved series in a long-awaited open-world direction on the Nintendo Switch, one that's filled with enjoyable battles and multiple storylines.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet take the beloved series in a long-awaited open-world direction on the Nintendo Switch, one that's filled with enjoyable battles and multiple storylines.

Featuring gorgeous graphics and wildly inventive stages, Sackboy: A Big Adventure is an underrated gem of a game that's made even better by a wonderful PC port.

The Divine Force refines the Star Ocean series' combat and exploration to deliver a sci-fi tale with engaging, action-focused gameplay, but a few of the franchise's longstanding flaws persist.

Featuring a large cast of superheroes and supervillains along with deceptively deep strategy mechanics, Marvel Snap turns the popular comic book universe into an ingenious and irresistible mobile collectible card game.

God of War Ragnarok builds upon everything the 2018 reboot established to deliver a greater gameplay experience that's filled with emotion and hard-hitting combat.

NHL 23 will satisfy hard-core hockey video game fans, but if you didn't like the recent NHL releases, this year's relatively small additions won't change your mind.

Persona 5 Royal makes the jump to PC, and delivers the same thrilling gameplay and touching moments as its original release, but now with a new mode, fresh characters, additional music, and all previous DLC.

Featuring giant demon battles, massive destruction, and flexible combat that encourages creative fighting, the long-awaited Bayonetta 3 is the witch’s biggest action romp yet.

Despite Gotham Knight's cooperative multiplayer and many customization options, vigilante justice can’t save this open-world action-RPG from mediocrity.

Gaming’s most inexplicable mascot crossover, Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope delivers a clever, cosmic adventure alongside tightly tuned tactical gameplay.

PlayStation's PC campaign continues with Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, an excellent port of two of the most critically lauded games from Sony's catalog.

Shovel Knight Dig remixes the popular indie platformer into a clever roguelike that’s an entertaining—if somewhat diminished—Shovel Knight experience.

Overwatch 2 is as fun and fast-paced as the original game, but its free-to-play structure sullies the experience a bit.

Across the Obelisk is an exciting deck-building RPG that combines a magical fantasy setting with a charming art style and occasionally frustrating combat systems.

Featuring combo-heavy gameplay and a dark fantasy setting, Soulstice delivers Devil May Cry-style action that's marred by some frustrating mechanics.

Splatoon 3 offers entertaining, fast-paced multiplayer action that anyone can enjoy, but the new features don't differentiate the game much from its predecessor.

Soul Hackers 2 is a decent Japanese role-playing game in the Megami Tensei meta-series, but decent isn't enough when you're competing against titans in your own family.

Rumbleverse might be a ridiculous, cartoony dust-storm of wrestling action, but it's shockingly fun and extremely balanced. A few hit detection issues aside, the free-to-play game is one of the most addicting and accessible melee-focused battle royale titles around.

The Last of Us Part 1 remakes the beloved 2013 PS3 game in stunning detail, but it's difficult to recommend at full price with so few changes.

Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered is a highly polished action-adventure game that features familiar comic book set pieces, tight gameplay systems, and amazingly detailed New York City-based environments that keep you entertained throughout a lengthy campaign.

MultiVersus brings together an eclectic mix of WB characters in a wacky but frustratingly slow free-to-play platform fighter.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a massive JRPG with a unique story and deep combat that's tempered by all-too-familiar gameplay mechanics.

Live A Live delivers a gem of a JRPG from a lost generation. It's a nostalgic blast from the past with enough modern innovations to keep the experience fresh and engaging.

The Delicious Last Course closes out Cuphead in style thanks to fantastic foes to fight and welcome new mechanics to enjoy.

Postal: Brain Damaged delivers a great throwback to classic FPS games from the 90s and early 00s, delivering breakneck gameplay, lots of fun weapons, and for better or worse, its signature edgy wit.

Stray is a wonderfully endearing game about humanity in a world without humans, delivering quality feline exploration/adventure, with some passable action thrown in.

Sonic's beloved, 2D adventures return with a fresh coat of HD paint. However, this otherwise enjoyable collection of Genesis-era games is marred by a few technical issues.

Although a relatively short game by genre standards, Shredder’s Revenge takes you on a fun, mutagen-powered romp through New York City's ninja-filled streets.

Mario Strikers makes its long-awaited return as a deliriously fun and accessible soccer game that's packed with character customization and online modes.

Diablo Immortal is an excellent mobile spin on Blizzard’s classic, dungeon-crawling action, but the game's grind means that you may need to stick with it for the long haul to fully appreciate the experience.

Soundfall’s music-based gameplay adds a fresh groove to an otherwise standard dungeon-crawling adventure.

Vampire Survivors might look like Steam Early Access shovelware, but its depth and satisfying gameplay loop will keep you coming back for more. [Early Access Score = 80]

Triangle Strategy is an outstanding tactical-RPG that brilliantly marries narrative-based decision making with polished fantasy and strategy elements, making it a must-buy game for genre fans.

Featuring outstanding cinematic presentation, first-rate voice performances, and superb sound design, Trek to Yomi wraps Akira Kurosawa-like flair around its fun, side-scrolling samurai battles.

Enjoy casual spins on popular sports, such as soccer and tennis, in this motion-controlled game collection for the Nintendo Switch. Although volleyball and a few other new additions feature disappointing controls, returning fan favorites showcase just how exciting it is to move your body while playing a video game.

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga packs the nine, mainline films into a galaxy-spanning, kid-friendly, open-world toybox.

The House of the Dead: Remake gives the classic zombie-shooting game a frightfully fresh coat of paint, but its arcade roots create new problems as a home console release.

Ghostwire: Tokyo is a horror-themed shooter that features a cool, ghostly premise and a lavishly rendered open-world Tokyo. However, it doesn't provide many scares or particularly engaging action.

Chocobo GP has the makings of a great kart racer with its diverse cast of specialized racers, excellent power-up combos, and terrific visuals. However, uninspired track design and excessive microtransactions mar the experience.

Memes aside, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is an aggressively ridiculous action-RPG with surprisingly deep combat and subpar performance.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land is the series' first real step into 3D action, and the game deftly makes the transition with its many challenges and secrets. However, there's less ambition on display than you might expect.

Elden Ring is a wonderful action-RPG that features thrilling combat, an amazing open world, and tons of replay value. Unfortunately, its PC performance needs work.

The first Puzzle Quest combined match-three puzzles with RPG elements to great success. Puzzle Quest 3 adds free-to-play mechanics to the pile and ends up with far less than it started with.